


Something Wicked (Swallow the Earth)

by Coldcase



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Anya Lives, F/F, F/M, Femslash, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grounder Culture, Healing, Legends, Lexa Lives, Lincoln Lives, M/M, MY FAVES LIVE GODDAMIT, Multi, Past Lives, Prophecy, Scandinavian Folklore - Freeform, Selectively Mute Clarke, Slow Burn, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-06-01 22:42:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6539452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coldcase/pseuds/Coldcase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time it happened, she was five and with her dad.</p><p>Clarke felt the buzzing grow stronger, her arms felt like they were sparking with electricity. The power coursing its way down them and into her hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going over all that I have written for this story thus far before I add a new chapter. Hang in there guys!

The first time it happened, she was five and with her dad.

 

Jake Griffin was a very busy man. Being Chief Engineer on the Ark was a time-consuming job, so he was away from his quarters for a good portion of his time. Because of this, he was left with a small fraction of time to be with his wife and daughter, but he refused to let his job affect his relationship with his girls.

 

He would find a way. This was the Griffin stubbornness that he inherited from his mother, and that he had no doubt his daughter had received. Luckily for him, his daughter had a curiosity to match.

 

Clarke Griffin was a very busy girl. Since she had been old enough to walk, she had been stumbling after her parents. With her mother as Chief Medical Officer and her father as Chief Engineer, as well as the both of them being members of the Council, there was little time for home.

 

So the Griffin parents found a simple solution. They had a permanent ‘bring your kid to work’ day. When she was just a baby, hardly able to crawl let alone walk, Clarke would be strapped to the chest of one of her parents, silently observing their day-to-day lives.

 

It usually wouldn’t be acceptable for a child to be present for many of the Council meetings and other important tasks the two parents had, but Clarke had always been an unusually quiet child.

 

Most infants were prone to cry out for their every need, Clarke would simply look at her parents with her shining blue eyes that seemed to hold a depth that far surpassed her age. Due to her quiet nature, she was easily accepted, or more accurately, forgotten about, and so Clarke was given a front row seat to many of the important decisions made on the Ark.

 

As she got older, Clarke was no longer held to the chest of her parents, but instead trailed behind them like a baby duck following its mother. She could be seen stumbling along after Abby in the Medical wing, or following behind Jake as he worked. And as they worked, Clarke learned. While she may have been quiet, she was by no means stupid, as some of the other children on the Ark had taken to thinking out loud.

 

So little Clarke would watch as her mother would clean a wound and stitch it shut. Her ever-open eyes glued to her mother’s hands as they flowed with the string. And she would watch as her father would tinker with the tools in his office, his thoughts spoken aloud for his daughter to hear. For his daughter to _learn_. And she would watch as her parents argued with the council about everything from medical storage to food rations, and she would learn.

 

She loved learning absolutely everything she could, and while she may not voice this thought, her parents could see the joy in her eyes when she learned something new. She also loved being able to use the knowledge she had procured and put it to use helping people.

 

She loved when her dad would pick her up and set her on his lap when he was working, and guide her hands to the problem and work her through it. She loved when her mother would voice what she was doing to a patient, and ask Clarke to bring her something or other, or even help her apply bandages for less urgent cases. Her heart was consumed by the need to help, so it’s really no wonder how it happened.

 

She was with her mother and father, Jake had a day off so he accompanied the two to the medical wing. It had been a relatively calm day. No one coming to the medical wing apart from one man who shows up every other day claiming he had a new disease, so the Griffins were relaxing.

 

Abby and Jake were sitting on the floor with Clarke in between them, him complaining to her about his day playing toymaker, and her laughing at her husband’s usual childishness. Clarke looked up from between them as they talked and studied their faces. She felt completely content in that moment, or at least, she should have.

 

Something was wrong. She didn’t know how she could tell, but she could. Her parents were laughing away above her head in the calm atmosphere, but there was an undercurrent of unease running through the room. Clarke was the only one that felt it.

 

She knew something was about to happen. Something that would ruin this happy moment. She felt it like the calm before the storm, waiting just out of the corner of her eye. This undeniably unsettling fear took over her. She felt it in a strange, detached sort of way.

 

Despite her age, she was very rational, so she knew there was no reason to feel this way, yet the fear came upon her in waves. Waves that almost felt like they were moving. She tensed as the feeling got more intense, creeping up on her at a quicker pace. It almost felt like the bad feeling was running towards her. Her parents were preoccupied so they didn’t hear it, but she did. Footsteps racing down the hall, headed for the room they were currently occupying.

 

Jackson burst through the door covered in blood and holding a child in his arms.

 

“Abby!”

 

“Jackson? What happened?” Abby exclaimed as she maneuvered the child onto the bed she had been resting against. “She’s bleeding profusely from a head wound and has deep lacerations to her arms.”

 

“Her mother found her. Apparently she had been trying to reach for something, when the glass table she was standing on shattered. She hit her head on the ground, and the cuts are from the glass.” Jackson was nearly panting from his run, his face red and eyes worried.

 

Abby quickly cleared away the blood, seeing that the wound on her head seemed shallow, but the lacerations on her arms were quite deep. “How long was she like this before she was found?”

 

Silence answered her.

 

Abby looked up from where she was bandaging the deep cuts on her arms to see Jackson’s face drained of color. His eyes were focused on his own hands, held out in front of him and covered in blood.

 

“Jackson!” Abby yelled, shifting his attention from his hands to her face. “How long?”

 

“A-about 45 minutes m-maybe? Her mother said sh-she was only gone for…” he trailed off.

 

“Shit,” Abby cursed, “she’s lost too much blood. If she doesn’t get a lot of it, and soon, we’ll lose her. We are going to have to give her some from the reserves.”

 

At that, Jake looked up from where he had been trying to calm Jackson down to stare at her in surprise. “Abby, that’s against the law! You can’t! Only you have the access code to that room, they’ll know it was you!”

 

“Not if we don’t tell them.” Abby stated, a calm in her voice that was unexpected given the current situation. “And what are they going to do? Float me? I’m the best medic they have!”

 

A determined glint entered her eyes as this idea solidified in her mind. She finished putting the last bandage around the girl’s head and turned to Jackson.

 

“Watch her until I get back, just keep her alive until then.” As soon as the last word left her mouth, she was off like a rocket, racing down the hall to the medical reserve room in hopes that she could save her patient.

 

Jake turned to Jackson, ready to deliver a threat to make him keep quiet about his wife’s transgression, but before a single word could leave his mouth, Jackson dropped like a stone. Jake cursed under his breath as he lunged forward to catch the medical assistant. He picked him up and placed him on the cot one over from the girl, hoping that he would be alright.

 

“You’d think, being married to a doctor, some medical knowledge would rub off on me…” he muttered to himself, before turning to look to his daughter.

 

Clarke had been completely silent throughout this entire exchange. And while that is not really an unusual occurrence, the look on her face was. She was staring at the girl on the bed with a pained look on her face.

 

Clarke’s head felt stuffed. It was like there was too much happening all at once, too many thoughts, too many voices, and not all of them hers. It was so loud, she could barely think. The different voices were all speaking a different language, or maybe even more than one language. Before long, many of the voices quieted, leaving one behind.

 

**Save her.**

 

It was in a language Clarke had never heard before, but she somehow understood the voice perfectly. Clarke looked around wildly, looking for the source of the voice, but finding none. She felt strange, her blood thrumming through her body. She could feel a buzzing in her bones, a pressure behind her eyes. Her eyes traveled back over to the girl on the bed. She felt a draw over to her, and she followed the draw until she was standing next to her head at the far end of the bed.

 

Looking at the bandage, she could see that her mother was right and the cut wasn’t too deep, but something felt wrong. The humming from within her got louder. The voices in her head swirled again, raising in volume. Clarke didn’t know how, but she knew exactly what was wrong in that moment. _She’s bleeding inside_. _Inside her head._ Clarke knew that a wound like that could very likely kill her, especially with the way her mother dismissed it entirely. She started to worry for this young girl.

 

_What am I supposed to do?_

 

**Save her.**

 

The voice repeated itself, startling Clarke out of her panic. _Save her? How am I supposed to do that? You can’t fix something like this with the equipment we have, I doubt even my mom would be able to!_

 

The voice responded, as if hearing her thoughts.

 

**Protect your people. Save her.**

 

Clarke’s frustration mounted. How was she supposed to save her if there was no way to do that? The voices shifted again in her head. Whispering into her ears, and whistling through the space in her mind like the wind. Clarke knew what she had to do.

 

Even as her resolve strengthened, the girl on the table started convulsing. Jake looked up from Jackson.

 

“Shit.” He rushed over to the other side of the table, looking at the girl on the bed with panic in his eyes. Cursing over and over under his breath, steadily getting louder with his desperation. He looked at the other side of the bed to see his daughter calmly walking to the head of the bed, just behind the girl’s head.

 

Clarke felt the buzzing grow stronger, her arms felt like they were sparking with electricity. The power coursing its way down them and into her hands. As she reached the front of the bed, she reached her hands out and gently placed them on the girl’s head.

 

She could feel it with her hands, the injuries the girl had sustained. The blood swelling just underneath her skull. She could feel the blood running through the girl’s veins, slow and sluggish. She could feel the strength in the girl’s bones, in her muscles. She could hear her heartbeat. Her vision tunneled.

 

Suddenly, she could see the girl standing up in the middle of a room, listening to someone as they yelled at her. Clarke could see as the woman, the girl’s mother, who was yelling at the girl, shot forward and shoved her back into the glass table behind her. The girl flew back and crashed through the table, shattering it and banging her head on the ground as her mother walked away. As the blood started to pool around the now unconscious girl, Clarke was sucked back to reality.

 

Anger surged through her. She didn’t know who this girl was, but she was one of Clarke’s people! **No one hurts her people.** The anger only fueled the buzzing, and Clarke let the power she felt in her arms flow down to her hands, and out into the girl. She felt the bleeding inside her head stop, and heal itself. She felt it as the crack in her skull mended, leaving the girl calm once again, her seizures having subsided.

 

As Clarke slowly drew her hands back from the girl, she felt the voices that had once been so loud recede, drawing away like the tide, not completely leaving her, just quieting now that the urgency was gone. Clarke felt a strange calm come over her as she stared down at the girl on the table. Her need to protect this girl was still at the fore of her mind, it had just lost the sense of danger now that the main problem had gone. All that was left was for the blood transfu-

 

Abby burst into the room at that minute, carrying a box filled, presumably, with the blood for the girl. As she inserted an IV and started with the transfusion, Clarke relaxed further. The girl would be safe.

 

As those words passed through her mind, she looked away from her and to her father. His eyes were wide, his face pale, and his attention fixed on Clarke. Even as she started to worry for him, she watched as he rushed over to her and grabbed her arm, leading her out of the room and into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. As soon as they were alone, his words rushed out of him in a hushed whisper.

 

“Clarke, I need you to listen to me. You can’t tell anyone about this.” His eyes relayed the urgency of the message. “Do you understand me?”

 

Clarke nodded, but she was still confused. He saw the confusion and repeated.

 

“You can’t tell _anyone_. Not your friends, not the council, especially not the Chancellor. They could hurt you Clarke. Do you understand?”

 

This time she nodded more firmly. She understood that what had happened in that room wasn’t normal. People can’t just heal people like that. She knew that if the council found out, they would try to use this. She had been watching their meetings for years, and she had seen how manipulative they could be.

 

Jake’s breath left him as he sighed, relieved. He didn’t understand what had just happened in there, but there was no way he was going to let anyone near his baby.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One room over, Jackson was waking up to a disappointed looking Abby. Before he could explain himself, she raised her hand, silencing him.

 

“It happens to the best of us.” She spoke softly before turning to look at her patient, checking her over one more time. “What did you say her name was?” she questioned her assistant.

 

He startled from his thoughts.

 

“Oh, uh, Reyes. Raven Reyes.”

 

 

 


	2. The Descent

The second time it happens, she’s eight and with a stranger.

 

Clarke had done as her father had asked. She had kept quiet about the buzzing in her bones and lingering voices in her head. She knew telling people she was hearing voices would be taken badly, anyway. She didn’t talk much to begin with, so there wasn’t much danger of her babbling about this.

 

The voices never really went away, and neither did the feeling inside of her, the power she could call on in times of duress. She didn’t know how to use it, but she felt it there, beneath the surface of her skin. Sometimes this would manifest in the smallest of ways.

 

She would be in earth skills class, sitting in the back row and keeping her head down, when she would feel something dark and slimy pass over her skin. Like a shadow of anger, or some feeling even darker. Clarke would search for the source of the feeling, and look up just as her teacher, Mr. Pike, passes by, and the feeling passes with him.

 

Or she would be drawing, as she had been doing more and more each passing year, and think of earth. The stories told of trees towering above you, or rivers rushing past, wildlife all around you. And she would look down to see she had sketched a scene of the forest, with just the shadowy figure of a person in the background. She felt a draw to this person, but she had no idea where the image came from.

 

It would just happen like this. Small little feelings and instances of something a bit more than normal. Nothing like stopping a brain bleed or restructuring a skull with her bare hands, so nobody noticed a difference. She was too quiet for them to really notice her at all.

 

Clarke was walking back to her family’s quarters from her classes when she felt it. Like a tremor through her soul, a fear that did not belong to her settled into her bones. As she turned the corner, a body ran straight into her, knocking her back onto the ground.

 

Disoriented, Clarke lifted her head from her spot on the floor to see her attacker. Before her was a girl, maybe a year or two younger than Clarke herself, looking back at her in complete fear and astonishment.

_She must be the source of the fear I’m feeling…_

 

Before Clarke could even begin to question what was happening, she heard footsteps pounding down the corridor.

_Must be the guards making their rounds. You’d think they would train to be a bit quieter while they walk…_

 

Clarke turned back to the younger girl in front of her, a calming smile on her face, trying to communicate that there was no reason to fear. Now that the guards were coming, they would protect them. However, the smile froze on her face at the look in the stranger’s intense blue eyes.

 

Absolute fear.

 

Clarke could feel it even stronger now. It was practically radiating off of this girl in waves. Clarke felt the girl’s fear and panic rising with each step the guards took closer to them. 

_She’s scared of the guards?_

 

Her confusion grew alongside the girl’s fear, and the voices that had stayed quiet for years grew with it.

**Save her.**

_Again with this?!? It’s just the guards! There is nothing to save her from!_

 

The buzzing was growing inside her, reacting to the girl’s overwhelming terror. She looked frozen to her spot from it. As the feeling expanded within her chest, Clarke was looking for some explanation to this confusing situation. Then she found one.

 

Suddenly, she understood the girl’s fear. She knew that she couldn’t be seen by the guards. The guards aren’t _safe._ They would hurt the girl. They were the danger, and Clarke needed to **protect her people from danger**.

 

Just as the guards rounded the corner, Clarke surged forward, pinning the girl against the wall with one hand over her mouth. The humming inside her poured outward, surrounding them both and completely covering them in darkness.

 

From in front of her, Clarke could hear the girl whimper in confusion and Clarke quickly shushed her. To the outside, it looked as if there was just another shadow on the floor, obviously coming from the light overhead.

 

 From the inside, nothing looked any different. Just two girls randomly attaching themselves to a wall. This is probably why the girl looked so completely taken aback when the guards simply walked right past them, oblivious to the secrets that lie within the shadow.

 

As they trudged past, Clarke could feel the other girl holding her breath. Every step they took echoed throughout the hallway, the sound somehow intensifying her panic.

_Are they walking slower than usual?_

 

They rounded the next corner, and soon the footsteps were faded back to silence. As soon as the silence came back, the stranger’s breath left her in a rush. Clarke released her and took a few steps back, trying to let her catch her breath.

 

The girl was bent over in half, breathing like she had run a marathon. Even as she continued her panting, she raised her head up to look at Clarke with an uncomprehending gratitude in her eyes.

 

“I don’t know how that worked,” the girl breathed out in a whisper, still careful despite the guards’ absence, “but thank you. God just…thank you so much.”

 

And with that, the stranger took off down the hallway, leaving Clarke just as quickly as she had come.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Light footsteps sounding down the hallway caught his attention. He would know them anywhere. As he opened the door to the room, a brunette blur raced past him and into the room. Quickly shutting the door, He turned towards the shivering body in front of him.

 

“Where the hell were you?” he asked, his voice tinged with panic.

 

“I know, I know. I was just so tired of sitting in here all day while everyone else is out there.” The girl returned with a strange mixture of regret and defiance in her eyes. She hated worrying him like this. “It won’t happen again.”

 

He let out a tired sigh, brushing his hand through his hair and glancing back at the girl who still looked shaken up. Crossing the room towards her, he pulled her into his arms, lending her his strength while simultaneously reassuring himself.

 

“Please just—please don’t do that to me, O. I was halfway to starting a fire to cause a distraction.” He sighed into her hair.

 

“I promise, Bell.”

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  As the years fly by, Clarke’s list of so called “people” grows. She doesn’t always hear the voice, but every once in a while she’ll feel this undeniable urge to help people in even just the smallest of ways.

 

She refuses to use whatever this is in any way that will draw suspicion, so she has to stand with small miracles. Like feeling a sense of emergency that has her dropping her school books in front of the guards, and watching a child fly by behind them as they scramble to help her pick them up.

 

Due to all of these small “accidents” of hers Clarke has gathered, not exactly a following, but appreciation. Every once in a while, Clarke will look up from her tray in the cafeteria or lift her head up from her book in class to see one kid or another looking at her with something that looks an awful lot like gratitude.

 

 It’s strange to go from being the girl that kids whispered about behind her back, speculating that she was wrong in the head and that’s why she didn’t talk, to the girl that many of these ‘delinquents’ look at with awe.

 

Somehow, they knew she was looking out for them. They didn’t understand how exactly, but they felt protected by this strange, silent girl.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many of the adults on the Ark had noticed her, as well. It was rare that any of them needed the kind of help that Clarke could give, as they knew first-hand what mistakes could cost you from watching their own friends die. But every now and again, Clarke would head to the medical area to go over some old training ad she wouldn’t be alone there.

 

In the corner with the bandages, or near the back grabbing medicine from the cabinet, there would be a stranger.

 

Caught, they would freeze in place, whatever they had in their hands brought to their chest and held almost like a baby, protectively.

 

Clarke would just look at them, seeing their obvious need, and finally look away and continue on to the charts. Or, in a particularly unlucky situation, she would feel someone coming down the hall and immediately grab the stranger, bring them over to the medical table, and pretend to be checking them out as she stuffed whatever they had grabbed into her backpack from school.

 

Whoever was coming, usually a guard squad or a council member making routine check-ups, would simply pass them by thinking nothing of the quiet girl playing doctor.

 

The gratitude and warmth in those strangers’ eyes would follow her home.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clarke is 17 when the world goes to shit.

 

The Ark only has a year left of oxygen. Her father knew there wasn’t much time left, but she could feel it in her bones. She knew exactly how much time before the end of their home in the stars.

 

She walks up behind him as he makes his video, and she can see the desperation in his eyes. He doesn’t know what to do, all he knows is he has to _try_. Jake looks behind him to see his daughter, just barely coming into her adult years, too young to die, and a crazy idea begins to form in his mind.

 

He had heard of many people going to the ground, but no one had really heard what had happened to them. They just assumed they had all died, they didn’t really _know._

 

As he stared at his daughter, the plan solidified. He knew of two pods on the Ark. He could get her into one and have her halfway to the ground before the council realizes.

 

All he would need is a way to moniter her vitals, and they would have all the proof they need that the earth is survivable. They wouldn’t all have to die in this floating death trap, he could save them.

 

_She_ could save them.

 

Jake Griffin rushes to his feet in a flurry of motion and begins making preparations.

 

Clarke watches from the doorway, understanding in her eyes and hope in her heart.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

In the next few weeks, Clarke’s life takes a dramatic turn. She already paid attention in Earth skills class, but now she _needs_ it. As soon as she gets home, she has even more classes, ranging from which plants can kill versus which can save, to how to kill, skin, and cook an animal.

 

Her father has friends on the guard who teach her how to protect herself, with her hands and with the knives they have strapped to their thighs.

 

She learns how to string a bow and make arrows. How to tan leather for clothing. How to scout for safe shelter.

 

Everything she learns teaches her how to survive.

 

Her life isn’t just about her anymore, she knows this. The survival of her entire people rests on her now.

 

She won’t fail.

 

She will **save them.**

 

She trains every day and every night, going over fighting techniques and medical procedures in her head until she could do them in her sleep. She will be prepared when she hits the ground.

 

If she hits the ground.

 

And then the day arrives. They had never set an exact date, but Clarke can feel it. She can feel in in the tense air her father gives off, can see it in the fear in his eyes.

 

As night approaches, Jake Griffin rushes his daughter to her pod. Stocked with supplies, the pod can just fit the teen.

 

She wears durable clothing, a knife strapped to her thigh and her father’s modified watch on her wrist.

 

“Clarke, this will tell me that you are alive, do you understand? You need to keep this on.” Her father’s eyes look imploringly into her own as he straps her into her vehicle of salvation.

 

With her nod, and a final check of the pod, Jake Griffin begins to lower the hatch. Pausing for just a moment, father and daughter give one final look of goodbye. Jake swallows around the knot in his throat.

 

“Be strong.”

 

And she’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE COMMENT! I love reviews!  
> Follow me on tumblr @Madmkay


	3. The Earth

Clarke wakes to darkness.

 

Her eyes shift wildly from side to side as she tries to solve the mystery of her sudden blindness. Finally, her eyes adjust just enough to realize she is still inside the, suspiciously still, pod. Clarke can only barely see from the red light emitted from the flickering panel on her left that simply blinks : WARNING. 

 

Something is dripping down her face, and when Clarke reaches a hand up, it comes back down with a red stain.

 

She quickly reaches back up to assess the injury, hoping for the small miracle of not having brain damage, and sighing in relief when she confirms it's just a scratch. Glancing around the pod, Clarke can see even more damage in the glass littering the floor and broken pieces of metal dangling by wires. The longer she observes, the clearer it becomes that the pod was broken apart during the crash. 

 

The crash.

 

Panic grips her chest.

 

_Is it still there?! It has to be-_

 

As her fingers come across the watch on her wrist, the air leaves her lungs in a rush. She couldn't afford to lose such a precious device. If she lost the sensor monitoring her vitals in the watch, she lost her entire people.

 

Her moment relief is cut short when she realizes her current predicament. Clarke was on the ground. She was on the ground, in a pod, 100 years before people should be able to survive being on the ground. Who knew what was waiting outside her metal cocoon. The second she opened the hatch, she could burn up from the radiation that had forced her ancestors to leave in the first place.

 

All that was protecting her from a gruesome death, was a few inches of metal.

 

Trying not to let her fear get the best of her, Clarke laid her hand in the handle to the door. It's not like she could stay in there forever, anyway. Best to just rip off the bandaid, right? So she just needed to-right.

 

Clarke's grip tightened on the handle. 

 

_Here goes everything._

 

With one final intake of breath, Clarke closed her eyes, yanked the handle down as hard as she could, and the hatch flew open.

 

And waited.

 

Eyes still closed, Clarke waited for the agonizing pain of the radiation to seep into her skin. She grew more tense with every passing moment, when she felt it. A cool brush of air over her skin.

 

With a gasp, her eyes flew open.

 

Dark. It was still dark outside the pod. Clarke spared a moment to think that the lights were off before laughing to herself. Still not moving from her metal seat, she inspected the view laid out before her.

 

Soft light poured over an open field filled with grasses and dirt and- holy shit! Trees! Real trees! Connected to real ground! More laughter bubbled up inside her and spilled from her mouth as the reality of the situation finally hit her. 

 

_She's on the ground!_

 

Clarke's eyes filled with wonder as she unbuckled herself and lifted a foot out of the pod to place tentatively on the earth below her. It made contact, and Clarke nearly tripped over herself in her rush out of the metal container.  She ran into the field before stumbling over a rock and catching herself just before her face hit the ground.

 

On hands and knees, she let her wonder overtake her for this new place. She laughed as she felt the  grass between her fingers, and the dirt making its way under her fingernails. Clarke let herself drop down and rolled onto her back with the weight of it.

 

_She did it. She was going to save everyone._

 

With that final thought, Clarke took a last look at the moon, seemingly farther away than it had ever been, and got to her feet. She had a world to see.

 

And survive.

 

\------—--------------------------

 

Clarke scavenges what she can from the pod. Taking her bag packed with clothes and a few rations. As well as her knife, strapped to her leg. Hidden away in her bag, beneath the necessities her father had her bring, is the one item she absolutely refused to leave without.

 

Her sketchbook.

 

She'd had many sketchbooks growing up, and this was her latest. She'd yet to fill the pages with anything more than one captured moment of her father. Clarke was excited to start drawing her new home in the blank pages.

 

With these items, Clarke took a final look at the last bit of the Ark she would hopefully ever have to see, and turned away towards the woods. 

 

She knew she would have to find a water source pretty quickly. Her canteen would run out sooner rather than later, and if she wanted to survive in this new environment Clarke knew she'd have to find some water soon. 

\--------------------------------------------

Walking around in the forest is only fun for so long.

 

Clarke felt blisters forming on her feet in the warm protection of her boots. Her thighs were burning and she felt like her legs were seconds from giving out. She had long ago tied her hair into braids and up off her neck to try and cool herself down with the night air. Her jacket was tied around her waist, the tank top underneath exposing her arms to more of the wonderful relief.

 

She had yet to find any source of water, and it looked like the sun was starting to peak out from behind the mountains. She was halfway through convincing herself that she should find a place to catch a bit of sleep when she heard it.

 

Clarke tilted her head to the side, straining her ears for another hint that she might have been right. There!

 

She took off in a sprint, dodging rocks and bushes and vaulting a fallen tree in her haste. Rounding the corner of the small hill she had been parallel to, she got her first glimpse.

 

_Water._

 

The smile on Clarke's face nearly split her face in two as she stumbled to a knee beside the river she had lucked upon. Cupping her hands, she splashed the cool liquid on her face, the smile never leaving her lips.

 

She quickly took the near-empty canteen from her bag and refilled it. She'd been walking all night and, even taking sparing sips, and nearly emptied the container. 

 

With the water in the belly, Clarke noticed a sloshing inside her that alerted her to another necessity she had forgotten about.

 

_Food._

 

Taking a bag of dried "astronaut food" from her bag. She shifted to sit next to the riverside and quickly ate one of her few rations. The sight of the remaining three reminded her that she would have to start finding her own food soon. And one more thing.

 

_Shelter_. 

 

She didn't have a tent in her bag, and she didn't have the energy for up and building some sort of shelter at the moment. A bit back on the path she had been wandering, however, Clarke remembered seeing a cave not to far from the river. It would be an ideal spot, close to a water source and covered from any storms. 

 

With that, Clarke had decided.

 

She gathered herself up, and turned her back on the river, following her path backwards to where she had originally spotted the cave.

 

\--------------------------------------------------

 

Upon reaching it, Clarke discovered a new problem.

 

It seemed as though Clarke wasn't the only one who thought the cave would make an adequate shelter. 

 

Ducking into the dark enclosure, Clarke was greeted with her first real feelings of fear since she had reached the ground.

 

Her entire body froze as a rumbling growl met her ears.

 

Sitting in front of her, at the back of the quite spacious cave, was a pack of wolves.

 

And they looked angry.

 

Clarke supposed she would be to if some stranger had just invaded her home, but _fuck._

 

Her back hit the wall of the cave as another growl tore through the air. One of the wolves, a dark black one with white interspersed on its snout, stalked towards her. Head low, ears back, the predator bared its teeth.

 

Clarke shivered against the stone behind her. She might have been taught a little bit by her father and the guards, but nowhere near enough to take on an _entire fucking wolf pack_.

 

Clarke was not having an easy day so far.

 

As the wolf inched closer, the snarls grew louder. And with them, the voices.

 

_Seriously, if we are gonna do this now, I could use a little help not getting eaten._

 

The closer this wolf, the _alpha_ her mind supplied, drew, the calmer the voices in her head seemed to get. Not, not calm, _soothing_. She could hear the same words over and over, along with a surging feeling of strength and peace within her. This feeling grew and grew until, finally—

 

The wolf had reached her.

 

It opened its mouth, preparing to snap its teeth down around the throat of the intruder, when Clarke just—

 

breathed.

 

As the air rushed out from her lungs in a wave of strange calm and relief, she felt the feeling inside release outwards as well. It swirled through the air, caressing the wolf in front of her and past it onto the rest of the pack. 

 

The growling cut off, and Clarke extended her hand out to the wolf in front of her, waiting.

 

After barely a moments hesitation, a wet nose touched against her hand, and she sagged with relief. As if taking their hint from the alpha, the rest of the wolves pattered over to join them against the wall. The lithe brown one walked right past the alpha, and gently grabbed her hand with its—her—teeth. Tugging gently, the she-wolf led Clarke to the back of the cave where the wolves had previously laid, and promptly tugged her down.

 

Clarke sat, stunned by this turn of events. She knew she could do things nobody else could, but at times it was completely surreal to even herself. 

 

The rest of the pack wandered back over, each finding some preferred spot to lay as they settled in. The alpha at the front, closest to the entrance and any intruders, should they come. 

 

_What, are they nocturnal wolves?_

 

Clarke mentally shrugged, laying down and snuggling into the warmth surrounding her. She guessed they decided to share the cave with her, then. She would deal with worrying more tomorrow. For now, she settled in for a day of sleeping. Hopefully the wolves won't go changing their minds when she slept.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please comment.   
> If you want to yell at me, I'm on tumblr @madmkay


	4. The Fog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigedasleng is in italics

Her nose itches.

 

Eyes still closed, Clarke scrunched her nose and lifted a hand to swat at the offending appendage before burrowing further into her incredibly soft pillow. She just needed _five more minutes_ of sleep. The pillow underneath her head huffed at her antics.

 

_Wait…_

 

Clarke’s head shot up, her previous weariness washed away in the wake of her resurfacing memories of yesterday. Inches from her face, a light brown wolf stares back, eyes sparkling in what almost looks like amusement in the face of Clarke’s utter bewilderment.

 

For a few moments, they stay like that, wolf and woman, staring into the eyes of the other. Before long, however, a noise breaks through the trance that Clarke had slipped into. As she looks away from her pillow’s dark eyes, Clarke takes note of the others watching this interaction.

 

Spread out around her, the pack of predators stretch languidly as they wake. The sun looks to just be setting, so they must be starting their—day? Night? She doesn’t know why these wolves are on a nocturnal schedule, but they seem to be surviving just fine, so Clarke won’t be one to judge. The dark wolf from yesterday, the alpha, wanders up to her from her spot on the floor. Weary of another scare like yesterday, Clarke is quick to tense up, but the wolf seems to ignore this completely as it walks right into her space and starts tugging at her clothes with his teeth.

 

He seems to be a bit impatient with Clarke’s slow moving to wake, and his nips get a bit harder, prompting Clarke to rush to her feet. He turns away from her then, and starts making his way out of the cave, the rest of his pack following after him. A few steps out of the cave, he stops.

 

And looks at her.

 

_He’s waiting._

 

Clarke shakes her head at the ridiculousness of her situation before heading after the wolf.

 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The days, or nights rather, go by in a bit of a rush for Clarke. Time really does fly when you’re busy, as she had noticed, as she was definitely busy. Every night, Clarke would wake with the wolves, leave the cave, and learn.

 

At first it was just small things.

 

Learning the signs that meant water was nearby. Scanning the forest floor for the tracks of the packs next prey. Learning which plants were perfectly edible when that prey was faster than her.

 

She would watch the wolves as they seemed to glide across the ground, their footsteps making no sound. A few times they had even stopped and, well, _glare_ at Clarke as she stumbled after them. Her heavy footsteps scared away any possible meals, and the wolves quickly realized that if this cub was going to ever be able to survive, it needed to be taught.

 

So when Clarke would walk, she would have one wolf directly in front of her that she would watch and copy their path, as well as two wolves behind her, both just waiting for a misstep so they could nip at her heels. It was a tough way to learn, but unexpectedly effective. She had started to see the path now, even without her guide. Clarke could tell which rocks would shift under her feet, or which branches would break, or leaves, crackle.

 

Her footsteps were getting lighter and faster from running with the wolves every day, and she could have sworn she almost saw _pride_ in the eyes of the pack when she caught her first meal. It was just a rabbit, but Clarke would swear up and down to the speed of those little demons.

 

Before she knew it, a week had passed, and Clarke realized she was actually _enjoying_ herself. When the pack would run, there would be a blonde blur racing beside them, _within_ them, laughing at the playful nips they would share, and giving a few playful shoves of her own.

 

Of course the other shoe had to drop.

 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It has started the same as every other night.

 

Racing through the forest, dodging trees and furry bodies alike.

 

Wind whipping through her hair.

 

A scream carried on the wind.

 

_Wait._

Clarke stopped her run, the abrupt halt gathering the attention of the pack. She strained her ears, head tilting to the side to try and determine what the sound was. After a few moments, she was about to just say it was a trick of the wind, when she heard it again.

 

Clarke was running before the cry had even ended, rushing off in search of what sounded like a wounded animal. Even as Clarke ran towards the cries, she could hear them getting louder, panicked, desperate.

 

_Terrified._

Just behind that tree—

 

Clarke burst into the clearing, and nearly dropped in shock.

 

Sitting in front of her, staring up at her with wide eyes and clutching his leg to his chest, was a child.

 

A _human_ child.

 

As in, there-are-people-on-earth _child._

 

His loud shouts tapered off into pitiful whimpers as he stared up at her. He couldn’t have been more than six years old, wearing what looked like handmade clothes covered in patches and ill-fitting for his small body. His watery brown eyes took her in, expecting her with what looked like awe written all over his chubby face.

 

Clarke supposed that she did make quite a sight at that moment. Blond hair was braided and covered partially by what was left of her first shirt, as well as dirt smeared on her face to camouflage her from any animals while she hunted. She wore a black long sleeved shirt, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and olive green cargo pants. Both had been packed in her bag, and both were now covered in dirt. Eyes wild from the rush of the run.

 

She must have looked half-animal.

 

Clarke was shaken from her musings when another small cry came from the child in front of her. She could see him clutching and his leg, and guessed he had probably twisted his ankle or broken his foot on the roots protruding from the ground. He must have been running pretty fast to have not noticed them. Before she could speculate further, another sound left the child’s lips, this one sounding much more urgent. Her eyes leapt up to his only to see he was focusing on the trees on the opposite end of the clearing. Her own eyes widened.

 

Just at the edge of the clearing, there was a nasty yellow fog.

 

And it was getting closer. Fast.

 

The boy cried again.

 

Whatever that fog was, it obviously scared the boy so much that he hurt himself trying to get away from it. She could hear the pack behind her, their yips and howls encouraging her to join them and get _away_ from the ominous cloud.

 

Clarke didn’t even think. She raced forward, scooped up the child, and raced back towards her pack, and towards her cave, hoping for some cover from the suspicious weather. As she ran, her wolves joined her. They raced through the woods faster than Clarke could ever remember them running before. A feeling of panic spread through her as she recognized that they, too, were afraid of the fog.

 

What could possibly be so dangerous about a _cloud?_

 

Before she could even finish the thought, a yelp sounded from her right. She turned and was greeted with the sight of one of her wolves, the brown one that welcomed her in the beginning, and that she had eventually realized was the alpha’s mate, had been reached by the fog.

 

It had only touched the end of her tail before she raced ahead of it again, but the effect was clear. At the end of her tail, the hair was singed. Darkened and burned off, as if someone had lit fire to it for just the briefest of moments. Clarke’s mind whirled with this new information.

 

_What the fuck?! Is the fog made of acid?!?_

Clarke’s feet glided over the earth, not even seeming to touch in her hurry away from the cloud of what seemed now to be _death_. She could not let it touch the child that now clung to her like a lifeline, which, she supposed, she was.

 

Clarke could see their cave, just ahead. The first of the wolves had made it in, and the rest were soon following as Clarke arrived at the entrance. She quickly set the child down at the back of the cave, rushing back out only to move the various branches, along with a large plank of wood, into the entrance, blocking it as best she could as she slipped inside.

 

She backed up from the make-shift door, and could hear the hissing fog reach it.

 

She waited, breath held.

 

And nothing came through. Clarke’s chest heaved as the last bit of adrenaline left her. The wall would hold, at least for now. She turned on her heel, ready to reassure the child of its safety, but the words caught on her tongue.

 

On one side, in the back of the cave, sat a shivering child. On the other side, a pack of territorial wolves.

 

_Fantastic._

Clarke rushed in between the two, silently asking her wolves to calm down. She reached out her hand to the alpha, who quickly, but affectionately nipped her fingers. The rest of the wolves took this as their cue to relax, and they went about settling in for the wait. They knew this fog would last.

 

And finally, Clarke turned to the child.

 

Wonder-filled eyes gazed back at her.

 

Clarke stepped lightly over, and slowly knelt before him. Before she could even open her mouth, the boy started whispering rapidly in some other language. Clarke could tell from his tone that the words started off fearful, probably still wary of the predators settling in for a nap behind her, but they quickly turned into what she recognized as questions. Clarke simply stared at him, unable to respond due to the language barrier. After a moment where she could see the confusion plainly written on his face, he seemed to understand. A tiny hand point at his own chest before only one word was whispered.

 

“Max.”

 

He pointed to her, wanting a response to what was obviously his name. Clarke debated in her head. She knew she could tell this boy her name, but if there is a child, there must be parents. Which means more people. Clarke had learned from years watching council meetings that some people were just not to be trusted, and as much as she was endeared to this little boy in front of her, she would not give any information about herself away so carelessly.

 

She slowly shook her head, and the boy frowned. His displeasure at being denied was quickly forgotten however, when he tried to stand up. He yelped in pain, and quickly fell backwards, Clarke catching him just in time to spare him from hitting his head. She lowered him gently back to the ground before looking at his foot.

 

It wasn’t broken. She could tell that much without even touching it. She gently lifted his foot towards her to get a better view, and could see that he had just sprained it. There wasn’t really much she could do for a sprained ankle, but he wouldn’t be running around anytime too soon. Clarke sighed before lowering the foot back to the ground, the boy’s big eyes watching every move, not suspiciously, and more fascination. In her or his foot, she couldn’t be sure.

 

Without worrying about his foot, Clarke examined the child more closely. He was shivering from the cold, his small teeth chattering. All of Clarke’s clothes were dirty, she had planned to take them all to the river tomorrow night to wash, so she didn’t have much to warm him. Whenever she got cold in the night she would just—

 

The thought quickly took hold, and Clarke scooped the surprised child back up into her arms and made her way over to her wolves. They tended to always leave a spot open for her in the middle of them, and this is where she settled in, the awestruck child clutching her shirt as he took in the wolves seeming so at ease with this wild woman in their ranks. They scooted closer to the pair, their furry bodies warming and lulling the child quickly. His eyes started to droop, now out of immediate danger from the fog, and with warmth surrounding him, until her slipped into sleep. Clarke watching over him, a silent guardian.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------

 

 

After a few hours, the fog had passed in a nearby village. A man and a women rushed out of their house as they headed towards the edge of the village, the woods visible just at the end. In their haste, they barely saw the sympathetic eyes of the rest of the villagers.

 

Everyone knows what happens when you stay out in the woods and the fog comes.

 

As they got within sight of the end of the village, they saw the strangest thing. A figure, of what looked to be a woman hidden in the shadows just within the trees. The figure crouched to the ground slowly, and laid a bundle at the ground, before quickly disappearing back into the woods.

 

The woman recognized it first.

 

“Maks! Maks!”

 

They reached the just waking child, and the village looked on in wonderment. No one survives the fog. And the whispering quickly started.

 

“ _Did you see that shadow?”_

_“Looked like a woman.”_

_“It couldn’t be the-”_

_“Get a hold of yourself, it was just a trick of the light.”_

A mother and a father sat at the edge of the forest, embracing the child they had thought to be lost. Their eyes strayed from the child for a moment, just a moment, and they could’ve sworn they’d seen something unexplainable.

 

The eyes of seven wolves shining from the shadows of the forest. Six on the ground. One stood tall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come visit me at @madmkay on tumblr!


End file.
